Help Me, I Can't Save Myself
by Fatima-FireandIce
Summary: Bella and Edward meet at rehab while taking group therapy sessions. Bella's a good girl who doesn't know what she's gotten herself into, and Edward is a badass druggie who doesn't care. What happens next? Romance, Tragedy, and Hilarity ensues. AH.


_**"I would never do crack ....I would never do a drug named after a part of my own ass, okay?!" -- Denis Leary**_

**_Song: "Make Damn Sure" --Taking Back Sunday_**

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**CHAPTER ONE**

I'm not an expert on not getting caught, alright? In fact, all that I'm an expert at is school. Getting good grades, satisfying my parents, and staying clean and boy-free.

I don't understand how one damn night turned into such a huge deal. It felt great, that's what I remember. Finally recoiling, and being carefree. It was also great how everyone had left me. I don't know what I expected? Maybe someone to help me, ask me if everything was alright. I just stumbled home, surprised that I was coherent enough to even remember where my house was.

Forks was a small town, but the thick woods and forest here made up for the highways, shopping malls, and sprawling roads that it lacked. I was so shocked when I first got here from Pheonix. Well, shocked is an understatement. More like horrified. It was a dull and dreary place, but it did have one thing, well person, that I adored dearly.

My dad. I really did miss him, so very much. So I was glad that when I moved here, I could make at least one person happy. And then there was Jacob. The sweetest guy friend I ever did have, even if sometimes he got a bit too close. He was a good guy though, he knew where he was going in life, and how he was going to do it. I envied the confidence he had in himself.

He's the one that warned me not to hang out with Mike, Tyler, and Lauren. The ones that got me into this in the first place. I knew crack cocaine was bad for you. I knew that very well. I wasn't, first of all, the kind of person that would even think about taking it. But I mean...I just wanted to make friends with them. We were alone in the woods, no one was watching.

It was just too _easy._

_Just one time. One time. _

It's what I kept telling myself as I was thinking. Besides, it smelled so _sweet. _Like cotton candy.

In the end, it left me on a high that lasted _forever_. The feeling was exhilarating, like I would laugh at the oddest things, and sang songs that I couldn't even remember the words to. When I could finally see what was going on around me, I realized that it was raining.

But another thing I realized was that I was alone. So as I started drifting away, I tripped and fell many times. I couldn't see, it was very dark.

Eventually I made it home to a whole search and rescue team stationed at my house.

I had been gone for only four hours, and it was 2 a.m.

Charlie went berserk on me, and the doctor came to check me up. I drank the fluids, went to bed, did whatever he told me. It was all kind of annoying. People are just so overly-dramatic sometimes, no?

So here I am, with my eyes shut tight, laying on my bed. I don't want to wake up just yet and face the wrath of Charlie, so I tried to prolong my "bed rest."

It wasn't working. I was getting paranoid, thinking up various scenarios in which Charlie would punish me with. One of them involved a pitchfork, rope, and a fire. I shuddered. I didn't even want to know. I finally convinced myself that laying around here all day might make me a bit crazy.

So I got up, and put my slippers on. I shuffled quietly to the door, and slowly creaked it open. I didn't want Charlie to know that I was awake yet. I quietly tiptoed to the edge of the stairs, hoping that if he was in the living room, I could sneak past him into the kitchen and get something to eat. These stairs were tricky, almost every one of them creaked. I took a deep breath and lowered myself onto the first one.

It made an ugly, loud sound and I bit my lip, frozen. Charlie probably heard it from downstairs, it was so loud.

"Isabella Marie Swan! You get your _ass _down here this very instant!" A female voice screamed.

Mom?! I ran down the stairs and into the living room. I skidded to a stop, and tripped over the my shoes onto the slippery wood floor.

"Ow," I muttered, saying a few other colorful words underneath my breath. I looked up. Renee was standing there with an 'I'm going to murder you, so you better run' expression on her face. She had on jeans, and a large green sweatshirt that was probably two sizes too big for her.

"Mom!" I leaped up, and practically tackled her. I hugged her tightly, but she didn't hug me back. I stepped back and looked into her brown eyes. They were lighter than mine, and usually warm. But right now, they looked cold and angry.

"Don't 'mom' me. Would you mind telling me what happened last night? Have you been hiding something from us Bella?" she asked, her tone getting cold, then softer, then cold again. I completely dodged her question and asked one of my own.

"How did you get here so fast?" I looked at Charlie who was sitting on the couch, trying to watch the game on the T.V. I didn't mind, as long as he wasn't on my case either, like Renee.

"Charlie called me as soon as you didn't show up at your curfew. I got scared, and kept calling for any updates. He couldn't reach you, apparently your cell phone was off. When he called the search and rescue team, I ran to the airport. I almost strangled the poor lady who kept telling me that the next flight to Forks was booked. I went through a lot trying to get here. Now tell me. Tell me everything."

I couldn't help it, I smiled. Everything she just said was so...Mom. And an afterthought: Why would a flight to Forks every be booked?

"What are you smiling at young lady?" Charlie turned off the T.V. and put the remote down. He had an angry expression on his face. He stood next to Renee, both of them looming over me. It wasn't fair. Two against one. I sighed in submissivness.

"Fine, I'll tell you," they both took a seat at at the same time, and I sat on the chair across from them. Their faces were inquisitive.

"Okay, so Mike, Lauren, Tyler and I were just messing around, ya know'. And we started walking around. I don't know how long we walked away, but I tried memorizing the road to try and see where we were. I was afraid of getting lost because no one else was keeping track of where we were going. We crossed the old bridge on the other side of town, and well...things started happening, and I just...you know...did," I finished.

They both had their eyebrows raised, and were questioning my story, as if they couldn't believe it was true. Like I wouldn't give in that easily. But I guess I would, and that whole story _was_ true. I finally broke down.

"I'm sorry," I said sincerely, and I went to hug both of them. They hugged me back.

"Bella, sweetie. You need to come back to Pheonix with me. We're going to...help you," she said. She was smoothing back my hair, as I was crouching down in front of her. She kissed my forehead, and looked at me.

"I think it's the best thing to do," she said, backing up her previous statement. I would've smiled, but then I remembered Charlie. I looked over at him.

"I can't leave Dad though, Mom. He needs me." Despite it all, Charlie still smiled.

"Dad agrees with me, and he's going to back me up. We're going to...help you."

I looked at her, then Charlie, then her again.

"But I don't need to! I'm fine Mom! Okay? Seriously it was just once! One time! Uno momento, muchacho, comprende?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Sweetie, we can't trust you anymore. I don't think that...it was just once.

"Fine, chain me up in crazy house. But one day, when I'm old, wrinkly and have flashbacks of those horrible moments and I wake up screaming every night, you're going to wish that you were kinder to your daughter," I said to them.

"I think we can manage," Charlie said, sarcastically. I was getting really scared. I couldn't believe that this was happening to me. I couldn't believe that my parents didn't trust me anymore. And after just one time. I couldn't take it, I felt like wailing, and having Renee and Charlie hug me and tell me everything was going to be alright. That we'd all bake cookies, and eat them, then give some to the neighbors. Then they'd thank us and invite us over for dinner. We'd eat together, and I would desperately try to make "playmates," with their kids.

That was all over about ten years ago. I was, supposedly, a grown up now. Well, legally in two months.

The tension in the room changed.

Renee looked at me, and Charlie went back to watching T.V.

"What happened to you Bells?" My mom asked. My heart felt like it was being shredded. The expression she gave me pierced right through me.

"Nothing mom," I said, choking on my words as the tears fell. "Nothing. Why don't you believe me?" I started sobbing. I could see her own red eyes - probably from lack of sleep - get watery too. She rubbed her eyes, reminding me so much of a little girl.

"I'm afraid I can't trust you. Pack up, we're leaving tonight. But I promise you, we'll get you help," she said in a stern voice, rising from her seat.

"But I don't need help! How many times do I have to tell you that I'm absoulutely fine and that-"

"Enough Isabella!" Her voice rung through the air, making me wince.

She disappeared into the kitchen.

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My suitcase was lying on my bed leering at me, mocking me. Telling me all sorts of things.

Damn straight I was a screwup. I can't believe I did this. It was just so unbelievable.

I could hear my mother's voice on the phone downstairs, reassuring Phil.

I shook my head, and sat down on the floor of my room.

Why was I sad? Didn't I want to leave?

I don't think it was as much about me leaving as it was about disappointing my parents. All my life, I was so sheltered. Everyone was blowing this way out of proportion.

I finally figured that it wasn't much about _what _I did, but _why _I did. That's what scared the living shit out of Renee. She thought that something was wrong. That something made me do this.

I could hear the phone click downstairs, and I got up.

I lagged my suitcase down the stairs and to the foyer where Renee was waiting. She didn't smile, or say anything.

She just gave me a look. I sighed.

This was going to be a long plane ride.

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_**Edward POV**_

My head throbbed, my senses weakened. I opened my eyes to find myself on the living room floor. I got up and looked around.

The place was a dump.

There were red plastic cups lying everywhere, my couch was flipped over, and there was pieces of broken glass lying everywhere. Not to mention the twenty or something people who were knocked out on the floor.

Everyone else was smart enough to go home. I got up, pushing some guy who was lying on my legs. I looked around trying to see what I could do about the situation.

"Fuck," I said when I noticed that some girl was lying on my piano, with her beer spilled on the keys. I was trying to hamper my anger, and the undeniable wrath that it would bring, but I didn't really have the right to be angry.

After all, I'm the one that hosted this little extravaganza.

I got up, and walked over to the girl. She looked to be about nineteen. I gently hauled her onto my shoulders, and layed her down on the blue couch. The one that was still in upright postition. I tried wiping down the piano with a shirt I found lying around.

The opaque shades on my window were closed, creating a morose atmosphere in the apartment.

I scratched my head. Now what do I do with all these people?

I walked over to two a guy who was laying down and hugging a six pack of unopened beer, and tried to disentangle him from it. He just snorted and rolled over.

Somebody knocked on the door. I groaned and made my way to the entrance, stepping over everything. It was probably that annoying lady who lives beneath me coming to reprimand me _again_ about all that noise we were making last night.

I opened the door, and four guys in blue came in.

_The _guys in blue. Pheonix Police Department. God, I hated these guys.

"We got a call about the noise, and the possible possesion of alcohol and drugs by underaged individuals," the guy with red hair said. The guys behind him didn't say anything, just surveyed the room.

"No sir, nothing to see here," I said in a cool voice. He raised his eyebrows incredulously, staring at the wreck my apartment was.

"How old are you son?" He asked me sternly, and dauntingly.

"23," I answered.

_Liar, liar, pants on fire._

The guy made a gesture at the other men, and they pinned me down onto the ground. I didn't try to fight back. They checked my pockets, and finally pulled out my wallet. I couldn't see what they were doing with it because I was face down on the floor.

"It says on here that you are twenty years old," He said blatantly.

"Why yes I am," I answered. And with that, I unexpectedy jumped, shoved the two officers off me, and ran to my bedroom.

I locked the doors, and could hear the screaming and banging as they tried to open the door. I put on my shoes which were at the foot of my bed, and opened the window.

I breathed deeply, and jumped the three stories. The fall was, I can't lie, kind of fun.

I landed on my left ankle, and muffled my cry of pain. I had sprained it, I could feel it, bad.

I half ran, half limped to my car, and got in it. Keys in ignition, and I reversed, almost hitting a red car behind me. I skidded out of the parking lot, and onto the main road. Only five minutes later, I could hear the police sirens behind.

"You are a threat to yourself, and the road, stop you car. I repeat, stop your car," the announcer kept saying.

Shut up.

I easily dodged everyone in front of me, and drove out of the road, and onto an unmarked street.

I glanced behind me seeing that the police car was there, however, when I looked back, I swerved. I lost control, and I was going in circles, spewing dust everywhere.

"Come on, come one, come on," I kept saying to the car. My vision blurred as the car was thrown off the road, and into a tree.

The airbag blew up, and I closed my eyes. I didn't open them back up for a long time.

The last thing I heard were car doors slamming.

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_**Author's Note: Please review! I want to know what you guys think of this idea. I actually really like it. :) **_


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